ohmidog!

Councilman Ed Reisinger agreed tonight that $1,000 was too heavy a fine to impose on people caught with their dogs off leash and vowed to have the measure — part of a bill he introduced — amended, lowering the fine to $250.

Reisinger addressed scores of South Baltimore residents gathered under the gazebo at Riverside Park, most of them angry about the ten-fold increase in fines approved as part of a revision of the city’s animal law, many of them interested in setting aside a portion of the park in which dogs can run freely during designated times.

Both Reisinger and William Cole, the council member representing Federal Hill who also addressed the crowd, said they believed leash laws were necessary, and neither seemed too interested in pursuing designating off leash hours at city parks, as several members of the crowd proposed.

But they said the city was intent on creating new dog parks — fenced in areas in which dogs can roam off leash.

As of now, there is only one dog park in the city of Baltimore, built and maintained by a community group. A city-funded dog park is expected to open this summer in Latrobe Park in Locust Point, and at its groundbreaking last fall, Mayor Sheila Dixon promised as many as eight dog parks in the city.

Reisinger expressed willingness to work with any group interested in trying to bringing a dog park to Riverside Park, but could provide no time frame on how long that project might take.

Several of those attending said there was a need for dog owners to behave more responsibly and keep a closer eye on their dogs so that they don’t run up to strangers who might be frightened by them.

Most, though, wanted an answers as to why the fine was increased so extremely — from $100 to $1,000 — and with so little effort by the city to inform the public about it. Those answers never really came.

Imprisoned NFL star Michael Vick has reportedly talked to producers about launching an unscripted reality show that would follow him from the day of his scheduled release as he tries to ”make amends for his past.”

The Hollywood Reporter cites sources as saying producers visited the suspended Atlanta Falcons quarterback in prison in the hope of signing him.

Vick is serving a 23-month federal sentence for dogfighting, and he’s under pressure as well to submit a plan for crawling out of debt to a bankruptcy judge. His lawyers told a judge this month  that Vick has agreed to a “television documentary deal” that will pay him $600,000.

I’d be interested in knowing what network is considering airing this, so I could make a point of never watching anything on it ever again — unless of course he’s really “making amends.”

In that case, for his initial amend, I’d propose any money heading his way — from this venture, any book, or any other enterprise that capitalizes on his past exploitation of dogs — be sent instead to animal welfare organizations.

Can I hear an amend to that?

We’re branching out here at ohmidog! with the unveiling this weekend of our brand new, fresh from the smokehouse, hand-made, all-natural dog treats — “ohmidog-O’s.”

They may not save the world, but they will help a dog or two. All profits from the sale of “ohmidog-O’s” will go to animal welfare organizations — in this weekend’s case, the Maryland SPCA. We’ll be hawking them at the ohmidog! booth at Sunday’s March for the Animals.

Each bag of “ohmidog-O’s” contains three different O-shaped treats — liver niblets, a freshly ground chicken, beef and vegetable blend and dried sweet potatoes; and the label features Ace and a couple of his close canine friends.

All our raw materials came from K-9 Kraving Raw Diet Dog Food in Baltimore, one of our sponsors, where owner Bob Barrett was gracious enough to let us don aprons and funny hairnets to create our cookies out of rolled out portions of his Raw Diet Dog Food. Using circular cookie cutters we spent an afternoon carving out a thousand or so at the Boesl Packing Co., then rolled them into the smokehouse, where, after some wood chips were added to the fire for flavoring, they slow-cooked for another day.

Just today, they got the Ace seal of approval. We’ll be bagging them up, along with the sweet potato-O’s and the liver-O’s, in the days ahead and selling them at $6 a bag –a price high enough to both pay Bob for the meat and, according to my calculation, make a contribution of several hundred dollars to the SPCA, assuming of course you come to the March for the Animals and buy them.

We’ll be having some other fun and games at the ohmidog! booth as well, including our highly popular ball toss (throw a tennis ball into the ohmidog “O” and win a prize) and our renowned “Kiss My Ace” Kissing Booth and Dog Breath Emporium, which premiered at last year’s BARCStoberfest. All proceeds from those events will go the Maryland SPCA as well.

March for the Animals is Sunday, April 19 at Druid Hill Park, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Click the banner on the top of this page for more information.

And don’t forget to stop by our booth and say hello (and pick up a bag of “ohmidog-O’s”).

One Nation Under Dog, one of the latest contributions to the growing pile of American dog lit, is a highly readable volume that looks at our obsession with dogs, and the lengths (or are they extremes?) we go to on their (or is it our?) behalf.

As dog lit goes, this one’s worth scooping up, and not just for its accounting of excessive human behavior when it comes to dogs — from popping Prozac in our puppies, to luxury pet spas, to doggie social networking, to the dog food revolution, to spending our savings to prolong our dogs’ lives.

The book covers all that, and more, in an entertaining manner, but it’s at its best when it ventures into figuring out what’s behind the mania.

Written by Michael Schaffer, who like me — and like some guy named Grogan who once wrote a book about some dog named Marley — is a former writer for the Philadelphia Inquirer, One Nation Under Dog, chronicles the rise of the pet industry, where sales have risen from $17 billion to $43 billion in the past decade.

I asked Shaffer in an email interview what he sees as the factors behind the fast rising status of the dog — the species’ transition from backyard to master bedroom.

“If you look at data on the pet population, you see it starting to grow faster than the human population only around the late-60s or early 1970s. Had people’s choice to get pets just been a function of postwar prosperity, it might have spiked sooner. But the rise coincides with a bunch of other things: More divorce, moves away from old tight-knit urban neighborhoods, decline of labor unions, more moving away from family.”

In other words, we’ve turned to dogs for the sense of community some of us often don’t find in our fellow humans.

Read more »

Last September, Thomas Bruckner dropped his 2-year-old puggle off at a doggie daycare and spa in Hicksville, N.Y. for grooming.

Later that day, he learned that  the dog, named Bailey had gone into a coma — apparently while spending time in a drying cage. Bailey died the next day, of what a veterinarian said was heatsroke.

Bruckner, who teaches astronomy at Nassau Community College, received a $1,000 out of court settlement for his dog’s death. Now he’s seeking to ban drying cages, and get laws passed that require groomers to be licensed, according to Newsday.